WORLDS: Maifield heads into semifinals with momentum of sixth round TQ

0 Sept. 25, 2014, 7:55 a.m.

9/25/2014
By Aaron Waldron

LiveRC.com

For some, the sixth round was a chance to try the tires and setups they plan to use on what will hopefully be similar track conditions when the finals run on Saturday. For everyone else, it was time to panic at the final chance to grab some much-needed points, whether they were vying for a spot in the semis or trying to ensure they don't run in tomorrow's lower finals (only the 1/8-finals and above will run on Saturday). The track dried out once again, the grip rose higher than it has all week, and the drivers had different methods of trying to cope with yet another different condition.

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"It was good, just a couple of mistakes but nothing detrimental - had to make a couple of saves," is how Ryan Maifield explained his first TQ run after three days of steadily improving with his TLR 8IGHT 3.0. Ryan returned to the setup and tires he ran when the track was dry on day one, which is what he'll run in the semifinal on Saturday.

Lee Martin said, "it was pretty good, it was all right" when asked how his final qualifying round went. "We ran our finals setup and tires to make sure it was on pace, and it was." A fair assessment after turning in the second fastest time.

Ty Tessmann, however, had a different opinion of his run and the state of his Hot Bodies D812. "It was a little bit hard to drive because the grip was so high, but we have stuff we can change." Ty acknowledged that there was more grip than there's been on the other days this week. He had a clean start to his run and was fine until the pit stop, but ran into traffic after that. He made a mistake going through traffic when a lapped car caused more harm than good trying to get out of the way, and then jumped off the left side double all by himself. After recovering from the second mistake, he finished up clean.

"My car was good, a little bit soft in the front," explained Yannick Aigoin after qualifying fifth in the final round. "The balance is back. I stopped doing crazy things. I did it my way, and stopped listening to people," continued the 2004 Worlds TQ. Confident in his car heading into the finals on Saturday, Yannick mentioned that there are lots of fast people in his quarterfinal but that in a 30 minute race, anything could happen.

"It was good, especially for trying out my semi setup," said Kyle McBride, who said the run was a big change from round five earlier today. "I just wanted to put a clean run in," said the young Aussie, who knew he was locked into the semi heading into the race and was comfortable trying something different.